Practice 2 Report - Nico Rosberg tops second practice in Bahrain

Nico Rosberg was the fastest runner on Friday afternoon's practice session in the Mercedes GP - Mercedes-powered cars taking the first four spots in the session.

British driver Lewis Hamilton (0.445 seconds behind the Rosberg) was second quickest, and complained that he was having tyre wear issues - his team mate Jenson Button (0.667s) was fourth.

Between the two McLarens was the Mercedes GP of Michael Schumacher, on his return to Grand Prix racing after a three year break, and he lapped 0.494 seconds slower than his team mate.

The two Red Bull drivers had a difficult afternoon, Sebastian Vettel was fifth quickest, but went off twice in the run-off at the final corner, while Mark Webber suffered a driveshaft problem after completing only five laps and did not set a competitive time.

The top ten were completed by Nico Hulkenberg in the Williams in sixth, ahead of Felipe Massa in the Ferrari in seventh, Vitaly Petrov in the Renault in eighth, Fernando Alonso in the other Ferrari in ninth, and Pedro de la Rosa in the BMW Sauber in tenth.

Lotus was the quickest of the new teams, Heikki Kovalainen (5.464s) just ahead of his team mate Jarno Trulli (5.581s) in 18th and 19th spot, followed by Timo Glock (6.628s) and Lucas di Grassi (6.779s) in the two Virgin Racing entries. Bruno Senna completed 17 laps in the HRT and was 11.559 seconds behind the leader. Senna's practice was brought to an end when the right rear wheel nut came off as he braked for the first corner. With only three wheels on the ground, the Brazilian went straight but managed to stop before hitting anything. His team mate Karun Chandhok did not turn a lap - the team hoping to complete the second car by tomorrow morning.